


Just Extras

by SonjaJade



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Bucking traditions, Gen, Illegitimate Children, caste system
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-31
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2020-10-03 22:56:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20460881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SonjaJade/pseuds/SonjaJade
Summary: After returning to Xing, Lan Fan makes a choice about changing her role in Ling's life. Later, she has to explain to her children how that choice has also affected them.





	Just Extras

**Author's Note:**

> Moms Made Fullmetal Week Day 7: Unconditional/Rules/Because I said so

Life following the trip to Amestris had changed a lot for Lan Fan. For one, Ling refused to allow her to remain at the imperial palace to guard him. Though she’d been terribly upset and angry about it, he offered her a compromise- she could stay, but only if she took on a noble rank. After all, he couldn’t marry her because of Xing’s rules regarding the ascension to the throne, and as her clan did not participate in the Emperor’s Challenge, he could not choose her to be a clan wife either. Instead, he would father his royal children and keep her as his common law wife, making a family with her that he would be able to be involved in and have a sense of normality with.

She struggled with the decision at first. Lan Fan had been trained and groomed from an early age to protect the Yao prince at all costs. It was never on the table that she could realize her feelings for him or know him intimately. However, a conversation with _his_ mother changed that.

“Ling has the power to protect anyone he chooses now,” the tiny woman said. “To live at the Peony Palace- it’s a once in a hundred lifetimes opportunity! Even if your children aren’t recognized as royalty! And they’ll never have to fight each other for the throne. They’ll simply be his offspring to love and nurture, unlike his royal heirs.”

Lan Fan didn’t like that she had to share him with fifty women, who had unknown diseases, but Ling had assured her that was not the case. The royal physicians had explained it was more like breeding cattle- his seed would be collected in a warmed tea cup, and up to five women at a time could be implanted by gathering a bit of his essence onto their fingertips and inseminating themselves. No physical coupling had taken place between the clan wives and the emperor in two reigns.

After that, Lan Fan agreed to his proposal. She moved into the palace that autumn as his resident concubine (though their union was much more sacred than that), and the first of their six children came the following summer.

One day, she was in the royal gardens teaching the younger children how to hop on one foot- a critical motor skill to moving on to harder martial arts moves. Her oldest, a son named Shunji, came racing toward her after his tutoring lessons.

“Ma-ma!” he cried, bounding over a shrub like a wild deer. “Ma-ma! You’ll never believe what I just heard!”

Lan Fan turned toward him, feeling his  _ ki _ leaping all over the place. “What’s wrong?”

He was panting, but he forced his breath to calm and he steadied himself. “I was going to tell Ba-ba how well my teacher said I was doing in arithmetic, but when I got to his study, there were some guards and a boy maybe a year or two older than me, and Ba-ba called him his son!”

Lan Fan nodded. “Yes, your royal father has many children whom you’ve never met.”

Shunji’s jaw dropped. “But how!? He’s  _ our  _ father! Why don’t we know them?”

Lan Fan thought for a moment on how to approach the subject. She sat down in the grass and explained that in Xing, there were fifty families that played in the Emperor’s Challenge, and that in order to play that game, their father had to have a child by each family. Only those children would grow up to one day play that game and the winner would get to be the next Emperor of Xing.

Her son looked angry at this turn of events. “I don’t understand, why can’t we play?”

“Because I am from a clan that doesn’t play the game. Our job was to always protect whoever the player was from the Yao clan. Ba-ba was the Yao player before he was Emperor, and the rules say only royal children can play.”

“So what does that make us? Garbage children?” he asked desperately. “Because I’m  _ not _ garbage! I’m smart and obedient, and I help with my siblings-”

Lan Fan touched his shoulder with her metal hand. “My son, you are not garbage. You and your brothers and sisters are… extras.” When he looked even more confused, she explained that in the event none of the royal children won the Emperor’s Challenge,  _ he _ would be the next Emperor of Xing.

“Also, sometimes the game gets very violent and the royal children attack and kill each other. It’s a way to make sure the throne always has an heir, and why you still get a royal education, even though you’re not officially a royal child. Think of it like this- imagine your Ba-ba is throwing darts at a target. He’s got fifty darts and one of them must make a bullseye. But some of the darts aren’t sharp, some are too heavy or too light, maybe off balance and don’t fly right. So he has fifty he’s not sure of, but,” she pointed at him and his little brother and sisters hopping behind them, “he’s got six he knows will hit every time.”

“So he throws all the other darts and if none of them hit, then one of the good ones  _ will _ hit?” he asked, his expression one she recognized from Ling's face, when he was deep in thought.

Lan Fan smiled. “Exactly. And you are one of the good ones- never, ever garbage.”

“Is that other boy my brother, too?” he asked.

“Yes, but only a half brother. And it’s unlikely you’ll ever meet, because he’s royal and you’re not.” She smoothed his hair out of his eyes and patted his arm. “But if you ask Ba-ba, he might think all of his children meeting each other might be a good thing. You never know.”

He sprung to his feet. “I’m gonna try to catch them!” he shouted, dashing away to go back inside.

“Ma-ma, what now? We’re tired of hopping,” one of her younger children say. “Is it lunchtime yet?”

Unconditionally, it was the one thing they could all always agree on, rules and rank aside: when it was time to eat. “That sounds like a great idea!” A chorus of cheers erupted from three smiling faces. They all joined hands as they journeyed back into their opulent home, hoping to find a scrumptious snack.


End file.
